Settlement method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A settlement apparatus includes shielding walls, a shielding door configured to, when closed, enclose an electromagnetic shielding space with the shielding walls for isolating signals inside and outside the electromagnetic shielding space, a reader configured to acquire data in an electronic tag in the electromagnetic shielding space, and a controller configured to control opening or closing of the shielding door, control the reader to acquire data, and settle according to the data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/CN2018/092202, filed on Jun. 21, 2018, which isbased upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No.201710485199.5, filed on Jun. 23, 2017, the entire content of all ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the field of informationtechnologies, and in particular, to a settlement method and apparatus.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

At present, during settlement of offline shopping (such as supermarketshopping), a user first needs to hand over selected items to a checkoutcounter, and the information (e.g., names and prices, etc.)corresponding to the items is determined one by one by the checkoutcounter and then the settlement is made according to the determinedinformation corresponding to the items by the checkout counter, and thepayment is made by the user.

A more convenient settlement method is needed to improve the efficiencyof settlement.

SUMMARY

A settlement apparatus and a settlement method are provided inembodiments of the present application, for solving the problem of lowefficiency of settlement.

In one aspect, a settlement apparatus includes: one or more shieldingwalls; a shielding door configured to, when closed, enclose anelectromagnetic shielding space with the shielding walls for isolatingsignals inside and outside the electromagnetic shielding space; a readerconfigured to acquire data in an electronic tag in the electromagneticshielding space; and a controller configured to control opening orclosing of the shielding door, control the reader to acquire data, andsettle according to the data.

In another aspect, a settlement method includes: opening a shieldingdoor of a settlement apparatus; closing the shielding door when it isdetermined that a user passes through the shielding door, so that theshielding door encloses an electromagnetic shielding space withshielding walls of the settlement apparatus for isolating signals insideand outside the electromagnetic shielding space; and acquiring, by thesettlement apparatus, data in an electronic tag in the electromagneticshielding space, and settling according to the data.

The technical solutions adopted in the embodiments may achieve thefollowing beneficial effects. At first, a shielding door, when closed,encloses an electromagnetic shielding space with shielding walls forisolating signals inside and outside the electromagnetic shieldingspace, and then a user may enter the electromagnetic shielding spacethrough the shielding door, and a settlement is performed by acquiringdata in an electronic tag attached to an item in the electromagneticshielding space. With the method provided in the present application,the signals inside and outside the electromagnetic shielding space areisolated by closing the shielding door, and only data in the electronictag attached to the item carried by the user entering theelectromagnetic shielding space is acquired, which not only facilitatesa reader to acquire data conveniently by increasing the transmittingpower but also avoids the problem of data misreading caused by anexcessively large transmitting power, thus improving the executionefficiency of settlement services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments and, together withthe description, serve to explain the principles of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 2a is a schematic top-view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding entrance and exit shielding doors according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2b is a schematic top-view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding entrance and exit shielding doors according to anotherembodiment.

FIG. 3a is a schematic three-dimensional view diagram of a settlementapparatus including a collecting device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3b is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding a collecting device according to another embodiment.

FIG. 3c is a schematic three-dimensional view diagram of a settlementapparatus including a collecting device according to another embodiment.

FIG. 3d is a schematic top-view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding a collecting device according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4a is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding a monitor according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4b is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding a monitor according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5a is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding a monitor according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5b is a schematic three-dimensional view diagram of a settlementapparatus including a monitor according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5c is a is a schematic sectional view diagram of a shielding wallaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 6a is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding an information display device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6b is schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding an information display device according to another embodiment.

FIG. 7a is a schematic three-dimensional diagram of a settlementapparatus including a reader according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7b is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding a reader according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic top-view diagram of a settlement apparatusincluding a position prompting device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic three-dimensional diagram of a settlementapparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 10 shows a settlement process according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages ofthe present application much clearer, the technical solutions of thisspecification will be clearly and completely described in the followingwith reference to specific embodiments of the present application andthe corresponding accompanying drawings. It is apparent that theembodiments described are merely exemplary rather than all of theembodiments of the present application. All other embodiments obtainedby those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in thisspecification without creative efforts shall fall within the protectionscope of the present application.

The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the presentapplication are described in detail in the following with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view diagram of a settlement apparatusaccording to an embodiment. The settlement apparatus includes ashielding door 301, one or more shielding walls 302, a reader 303, and acontroller 304.

The shielding door 301 is configured to, when closed, enclose anelectromagnetic shielding space with the shielding walls 302 forisolating signals inside and outside the electromagnetic shieldingspace.

The shielding walls 302 are configured to enclose the electromagneticshielding space with the closed shielding door 301.

The reader 303 is configured to acquire data in an electronic tagattached to an item in the electromagnetic shielding space.

The controller 304 is configured to control opening or closing of theshielding door 301, control the reader 303 to acquire data, and settleaccording to the data.

It can be seen from FIG. 1 that the shielding door 301, when closed,encloses an electromagnetic shielding space with the shielding walls302. The top and the ground of the electromagnetic shielding space mayalso be regarded as the shielding walls 302. However, for theconvenience of subsequent description, the top and the ground are stillused for description. In the subsequent description, the top and theground may be regarded as the shielding walls 302 together.

As shown in FIG. 2a , which is a schematic top-view diagram of asettlement apparatus according to an embodiment, the shielding door 301includes an entrance shielding door 301 a through which the user entersthe electromagnetic shielding space, and an exit shielding door 301 bthrough which the user exits the electromagnetic shielding space.Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2b , which is a schematic top-viewdiagram of a settlement apparatus according to another embodiment, theentrance shielding door 301 a and the exit shielding door 301 b are thesame door, enabling the user to enter or exit the electromagneticshielding space when opened. Opening and closing of the shielding door301 may be controlled by the controller 304.

For example, the entrance shielding door 301 a, the exit shielding door301 b, and the shielding walls 302 may enclose an electromagneticshielding space having an outer wall that is 220 cm high, 110 cm wide,and 310 cm long, and an inner wall that is 215 cm high, 100 cm wide, and292 cm long. The size of the outer wall may be regarded as an externalsize of the electromagnetic shielding space, and the size of the innerwall may be regarded as an internal size of the electromagneticshielding space.

In FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b , the double arrows next to the shielding door301 a and the shielding door 301 b indicate that the shielding door 301may be opened and closed in a sliding manner. The bold arrow in front ofthe user indicates that the user can enter the electromagnetic shieldingspace through the opened entrance shielding door 301 a and exit theelectromagnetic shielding space through the opened exit shielding door301 b.

Materials of the shielding door 301 and the shielding walls 302 are notlimited in the present application. The shielding door 301 may be aglass door with an electrical conductive dielectric layer (e.g., a glassdoor with a sandwiched metal mesh) or a metal door. and the shieldingwalls 302 may be brick-concrete structure walls with an electricalconductive dielectric layer, metal walls, or metal walls having a glasswindow with an electrical conductive dielectric layer, as long as theshielding door 301 encloses an electromagnetic shielding space with theshielding walls 302 when the shielding door 301 is closed. Moreover, inorder to reduce the sense of oppression when the user enters theelectromagnetic shielding space, a shielding wall with anelectromagnetic shielding glass window and a shielding door made ofelectromagnetic shielding glass may be selected.

In the electromagnetic shielding glass or the glass door with anelectrical conductive dielectric layer, the glass part may have athickness of 10 cm. The shielding door 301 may have the same clamp-prooffunction as the automatic door using an existing technology, which isnot specifically limited in the present application.

In addition, the shielding door 301 may be any of a rolling shutterdoor, a sliding door, a side hung door, and a folding door, or anothertype of door. The entrance shielding door 301 a and the exit shieldingdoor 301 b may be different types of shielding doors. The shielding door301 and the shielding walls 302 may also be non-physical apparatuses,such as electromagnetic signal shielding layers or electromagneticsignal interference layers, and so on.

The apparatus may further include a collecting device 305 (FIGS. 3a-3d )configured to collect a biometric feature of a user outside the entranceshielding door 301 a. The controller 304 may be configured to send thecollected biometric feature to a server, receive an account identifierthat is returned by the server and corresponds to the biometric feature,and settle according to the account identifier. Correspondences betweenaccount identifiers and biometric features may be pre-stored in theserver.

The controller 304 may be configured to control the exit shielding door301 b to be opened after settling according to the data, allowing theuser to exit the electromagnetic shielding space through the exitshielding door 301 b.

For example, the collecting device 305 may include at least one cameralocated outside the entrance shielding door 301 a for collecting a faceimage of the user outside the entrance shielding door 301 a as thebiometric feature of the user.

The camera may include different types of cameras such as a high-speedcamera 3051 and at least one dome camera 3052 shown in FIG. 3a , whichillustrates a schematic three-dimensional view diagram of a settlementapparatus according to an embodiment. The high-speed camera 3051 may belocated outside the entrance shielding door 301 a, on an outer side of ashielding wall 302 where the entrance shielding door 301 a is locatedand directly above the entrance shielding door 301 a, and form a presetangle (such as an angle of 60 degrees) with the outer side of theshielding wall 302. The at least one dome camera 3052 may be located onthe outer side of the shielding wall 302 where the entrance shieldingdoor 301 a is located and at two sides of the entrance shielding door301 a, and at a preset height above the ground (such as a position thatis 80 cm from the ground). In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3a , aplurality of cameras are disposed near the entrance shielding door 301a. As a result, collection may be performed from a plurality of anglesby the plurality of cameras, so that a face image of the front of theuser's face may be collected when the user faces different directions infront of the entrance shielding door 301 a, and thus the server maybetter determine the biometric feature of the user and determine acorresponding account identifier.

Furthermore, the collecting device 305 may be disposed outside theentrance shielding door 301 a (for example, on an outer side of theshielding wall 302 where the entrance shielding door 301 a is located),and collect the biometric feature of the user before the user enters theelectromagnetic shielding space. Then, the controller 304 may controlthe entrance shielding door 301 a to be opened when an accountidentifier that is returned by the server according to the biometricfeature and corresponds to the biometric feature is received. That is,when the server determines that the account identifier corresponding tothe biometric feature of the user outside the entrance shielding door301 a exists, the controller 304 may control the entrance shielding door301 a to be opened, allowing the user to enter the electromagneticshielding space through the entrance shielding door 301 a.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3b , which illustrates a schematic sideview diagram of a settlement apparatus according to another embodiment,the collecting device 305 may be disposed at any position of an innerside of a shielding wall 302 in the electromagnetic shielding space, andcollect the biometric feature of the user after the user enters theelectromagnetic shielding space. This is not specifically limited here.As shown in FIG. 3b , the collecting device 305 may be located on theouter side of the shielding wall 302 where the entrance shielding door301 a is located or on the inner side of the shielding wall 302.

Moreover, the collecting device 305 may be located on an inner side of atop shielding wall 302 or on an inner side of a side-wall shielding wall302 among the various shielding walls 302. The collecting device 305 maybe a high-speed camera or a dome camera, which is not limited here. Asshown in FIG. 3d , which illustrates a schematic top-view diagram of asettlement apparatus according to another embodiment, when thecollecting device 305 is a dome camera and located on the inner side ofa side-wall shielding wall 302 among the various shielding walls 302,the collecting device 305 may collect images in the direction of theentrance shielding door 301 a, for collecting a face image of the userwho enters the electromagnetic shielding space through the entranceshielding door 301 a. In FIG. 3d , the dotted arrow indicates thedirection in which the collector 305, which is a dome camera, collectsimages.

The collecting device 305 may also be a fingerprint collector, avoiceprint collector (for example, a microphone), an iris imagecollector, and so on. Moreover, the collecting device 305 may be locatedoutside the entrance shielding door 301 a, for collecting the biometricfeature of the user before the user enters the electromagnetic shieldingspace. For example, as shown in FIG. 3c , which illustrates a schematicthree-dimensional view diagram of a settlement apparatus according toanother embodiment, the collecting device 305 is located on the outerside of the shielding wall 302 where the entrance shielding door 301 ais located. This is not limited in the present application. In FIG. 3c ,the collecting device 305 may also be a voiceprint collector and afingerprint collector.

In addition, the settlement apparatus may further include a monitorconfigured to monitor a position of a user.

As shown in FIG. 4a , which illustrates a schematic side view diagram ofa settlement apparatus according to an embodiment, the monitor mayinclude a first sensor 3061 configured to monitor a distance between auser outside the entrance shielding door 301 a and the entranceshielding door 301 a. The controller 304 may be configured to controlthe entrance shielding door 301 a to be opened when the controller 304determines according to the first sensor 3061 that the distance betweenthe user and the entrance shielding door 301 a is within a specifieddistance.

As shown in FIG. 4b , which illustrates a schematic side view diagram ofa settlement apparatus according to another embodiment, the monitor mayfurther include a second sensor 3062 configured to monitor a distancebetween a user outside the exit shielding door 301 b and the exitshielding door 301 b. The controller 304 may be configured to controlthe exit shielding door 301 b to be opened after settling according tothe data, and control the exit shielding door 301 b to be closed whenthe controller 304 determines according to the second sensor 3062 thatthe distance between the user and the exit shielding door 301 b isbeyond a specified distance.

The specified distance may be set according to an actual requirement,and is not specifically limited here.

The first sensor 3061 and the second sensor 3062 may each include aplurality of ultrasonic sensors. The first sensor 3061 may be located onthe outer side of the shielding wall 302 where the entrance shieldingdoor 301 a is located, form a preset angle (such as an angle of 40degrees) with the outer side of the shielding wall 302, and measure adistance between the user outside the entrance shielding door 301 a andthe entrance shielding door 301 a. The second sensor 3062 may be locatedon an outer side of a shielding wall 302 where the exit shielding door301 b is located, form a preset angle (such as an angle of 40 degrees)with the outer side of the shielding wall 302, and measure a distancebetween the user outside the exit shielding door 301 b and the exitshielding door 301 b. Alternatively and/or additionally, the secondsensor 3062 may also be located at an inner side of the top of theelectromagnetic shielding space, at a location near the exit shieldingdoor 301 b, and form a preset angle (such as an angle of 50 degrees)with the inner side of the top. The foregoing is feasible as long as thefirst sensor 3061 may determine the distance between a user outside theentrance shielding door 301 a and the entrance shielding door 301 a andthe second sensor 3062 may determine the distance between a user and theexit shielding door 301 b when the user exits the exit shielding door301 b.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4a , the first sensor 3061monitors a distance between a user and the entrance shielding door 301a. As the entrance shielding door 301 a is in a closed state before theuser enters the entrance shielding door 301 a, the first sensor 3061 maybe located outside the entrance shielding door to detect a distancebetween the user and the entrance shielding door 301 a.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4b , the second sensor 3062monitors a distance between a user and the exit shielding door 301 baccording to an embodiment. The second sensor 3062 monitors a distancebetween the user and the exit shielding door 301 b after the controller304 controls the exit shielding door 301 b to be opened. Moreover, asdescribed above, the second sensor 3062 may be located on the outer sideof the shielding wall 302 where the exit shielding door 301 b islocated, or at the top of the electromagnetic shielding space at alocation near the exit shielding door 301 b.

A distance between the user and the camera may also be determinedaccording to an image collected by a camera. Therefore, in anembodiment, the first sensor 3061 and the second sensor 3062 may becameras. The controller 304 may determine the distance between the userand the entrance shielding door 301 a and the distance between the userand the exit shielding door 301 b according to the images of the usercollected by the cameras. Accordingly, the collector 305 and the firstsensor 3061 may be the same device, which may both collect the biometricfeature of the user and determine the distance between the user and theentrance shielding door 301 a.

For example, the controller 304 may send the received image collected bythe camera to a server. The server may use a method of determining auser distance according to an image in the existing technologies todetermine a distance between the user and the camera, determine adistance between the user and the entrance shielding door 301 aaccording to a position relationship between the camera and the entranceshielding door 301 a, and return the distance to the controller 304.Similarly, for the exit shielding door 301 b, a distance between theuser and the exit shielding door 301 b may also be determined by thecamera.

As shown in FIG. 5a , which illustrates a schematic top-view diagram ofa settlement apparatus according to another embodiment, the monitor mayfurther include a third sensor 3063 configured to monitor a position ofa user in the electromagnetic shielding space. The controller 304 may beconfigured to control, when the controller 304 determines according tothe third sensor 3063 that the user passes through the shielding door301, the shielding door 301 through which the user passes to be closed.When the shielding door 301 is the entrance shielding door 301 a, thecontroller 304 may control the entrance shielding door 301 a to beclosed after the controller 304 determines according to the third sensor3063 that the user passes through the entrance shielding door 301 a.Also, the controller 304 may control the exit shielding door 301 b to beopened after the settlement, and the controller 304 may further controlthe exit shielding door 301 b to be closed when the controller 304determines according to the third sensor 3063 that the user exits theexit shielding door 301 b. When the shielding door 301 is both theentrance shielding door 301 a and the exit shielding door 301 b, thecontroller 304 may control the shielding door 301 to be closed when theuser enters the electromagnetic shielding space through the shieldingdoor 301. The controller 304 may control the shielding door 301 to beopened after the settlement, and then the controller 304 may furthercontrol the shielding door 301 to be closed when the controller 304determines according to the third sensor 3063 that the user exits theelectromagnetic shielding space through the shielding door 301.

As shown in FIG. 5a , the third sensor 3063 may include at least oneinfrared emission detector, and may be located on the shielding wall302. A distance between the third sensor 3063 and the shielding wall 302where the entrance shielding door 301 a is located may be 30 cm, and thethird sensor 3063 may be disposed in a round hole which is preset on theshielding wall 302. The round hole may have a diameter of 2 cm. Thus,the infrared emission detector is located on the shielding wall 302 at alocation near the entrance shielding door 301 a. The controller 304 maydetermine according to a signal received by the infrared emissiondetector that the user enters the electromagnetic shielding spacethrough the entrance shielding door 301 a, and the controller 304 maycontrol the entrance shielding door 301 a to be closed. Moreover, asshown in FIG. 5c , which is a schematic sectional view diagram of ashielding wall according to an embodiment, in order to prevent the roundhole where the third sensor 3063 is located from leaking electromagneticsignals, the round hole may be electromagnetically shielded (forexample, covered with an electromagnetic shielding material X). In FIG.5c , X is an electromagnetic shielding material.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5b , which illustrates a schematicthree-dimensional view diagram of a settlement apparatus according toanother embodiment, the monitor may further include a fourth sensor 3064configured to monitor the position of the user in the electromagneticshielding space. The controller 304 is configured to control the reader303 to acquire the data in the electronic tag attached to the item inthe electromagnetic shielding space when the controller 304 determinesaccording to the fourth sensor 3064 that the user is located at a firstspecified position in the electromagnetic shielding space. The firstspecified position may be set as required, for example, set to be aposition most suitable for reading the data in the electronic tag.

As shown in FIG. 5b , the fourth sensor 3064 may include an infraredlight strip (light projector) and a light receptor. The infrared lightstrip may extend from the ground under the entrance shielding door 301 ato the ground under the exit shielding door 301 b and may emit infraredrays, and the light receptor may be configured to receive the infraredrays emitted by the infrared light strip. When the user enters theelectromagnetic shielding space, the body of the user blocks someinfrared rays emitted by the infrared light strip, and the lightreceptor may receive the unblocked infrared rays. The controller 304 maydetermine the position of the user in the electromagnetic shieldingspace according to occlusion of the infrared rays. The light receptorand the collector 305 may be integrated onto the same device, and thesame device may both collect the biometric feature of the user andreceive the infrared rays emitted by the infrared light strip.

As shown in FIG. 6a and FIG. 6b , which illustrate a settlementapparatus according to an embodiment, the apparatus may further includean information display device 307 configured to receive the data sent bythe controller 304 and display the data to the user in theelectromagnetic shielding space. The controller 304 may send to theinformation display device 307 the data in the electronic tag attachedto the item carried by the user entering the electromagnetic shieldingspace which is acquired by the reader 303. The controller 304 may alsosend information produced after the settlement to the informationdisplay 305.

The information display device 307 may be a display, a projector orother devices. Content of the information displayed by the informationdisplay device 307 is not specifically limited in the presentapplication.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6a , the information displaydevice 307 may be a display screen, and may be located on the shieldingwall 302 where the exit shielding door 301 b is located or on the exitshielding door 301 b and displays information towards the entranceshielding door 301 a. In FIG. 6b , when the information display device307 is a projector, the information display device 307 may be located onan inner side of the shielding wall 302 at one side of the exitshielding door 301 b and project to the exit shielding door 301 b todisplay information.

The reader 303 may be an RFID (radio-frequency identification) reader,and the electronic tag in an embodiment may be an RFID electronic tag.In some embodiments, there may be a plurality of readers 303. As shownin FIG. 7a , which is a schematic three-dimensional diagram of asettlement apparatus according to an embodiment, the readers 303 may bedisposed at second specified positions of the various shielding walls,and acquire, at different positions, the data in the electronic tagattached to the item carried by the user entering the electromagneticshielding space. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7a , the readers303 are located at two sides of the electromagnetic shielding space, andon the top and bottom shielding walls 302, and the readers 303 locatedat the two sides of the shielding walls 302 are at different heightsfrom the ground. The readers 303 may be square readers 303 with sidesthat are 25 cm long, and the heights of the readers 303 located at twosides of the shielding walls 302 are 140 cm and 70 cm, respectively. Aprojection position of the top reader 303 on the ground coincides withthe bottom reader 303.

The RFID electronic tag in the embodiment may be a passive RFIDelectronic tag. The reader 303 may acquire data in the passive RFIDelectronic tag in the electromagnetic shielding space. Moreover, as thereader 303 may be disposed in the electromagnetic shielding spaceaccording to the embodiment, the transmitting power of the reader 303may be increased to improve the efficiency of acquiring data in thepassive RFID electronic tag by the reader 303, thus improving theefficiency of settlement.

Furthermore, the average heights of men and women in China are 167.1 cmand 155.8 cm respectively, and a user generally may carry items by hand,by pushing a shopping cart, by carrying a shopping basket, or in othermanners. Therefore, in order to make the reader 303 closer to anelectronic tag attached to an item carried by the user when acquiringdata and improve the efficiency of data acquisition, the reader 303 maybe set at 70 cm to 140 cm above the ground in the embodiment.Specifically, two readers 303 may be disposed at 70 cm and 140 cm aboveground, respectively. For example, the readers on the two side walls asshown in FIG. 7a are located at 70 cm above the ground and 140 cm abovethe ground respectively.

In addition, users may carry items in various manners, and volumes andquantities of items carried by different users are not exactly the same.Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7b , which is a schematic side view diagramof a settlement apparatus according to an embodiment, in order to reducethe situations in which the reader 303 misses reading data, the reader303 may be disposed on a track and acquire data by moving on the track.In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7b , a shielding wall 302 isprovided with a track to allow a reader 303 to move. As can be seen, theshielding wall 302 may be provided with a plurality of readers 303, andeach reader 303 may be located on a corresponding track and move on theshielding wall 302. In FIG. 7b , the double arrows indicate that thereaders 303 may move back and forth on the tracks. Therefore, even if anitem carried by the user is placed in a corner of the electromagneticshielding space, data in an electronic tag attached to the item may beeasily acquired through the movement of the reader 303.

It should be noted that whether only one or several readers 303 areprovided and whether the readers 303 are fixed or removable, in theembodiment, as the reader 303 is located on an inner side of theshielding wall 302 and in the electromagnetic shielding space, radiofrequency signals transmitted by the reader 303 may not penetratethrough the shielding door 301 and the shielding walls 302 to theoutside of the electromagnetic shielding space, and signals outside theelectromagnetic shielding space may not enter the electromagneticshielding space and be received by the reader 303. As a result, it canbe determined that the data acquired by the reader 303 is the data inthe electronic tag attached to the item carried by the user entering theelectromagnetic shielding space, avoiding data misreading by the reader303. Specifically, when the electronic tag is a passive RFID electronictag, the transmitting power of the reader 303 may be set higher to avoidthat a signal transmitted by the reader 303 is difficult to be receivedby the passive RFID electronic tag and avoid the reader 303 from missingreading the data (for example, mutual occlusion among a plurality ofpassive RFID electronic tags results in that the occluded passive RFIDelectronic tag cannot receive the signal transmitted by the reader 303).At the same time, even if the transmitting power of the reader 303 ishigh, the reader 303 is also prevented from data misreading as the radiofrequency signal transmitted by the reader 303 may not penetrate throughthe shielding door 301 and the shielding walls 302 to the outside of theelectromagnetic shielding space. The transmitting power of the reader303 may be set as required, which is not specifically limited in thepresent embodiment, as long as the reader 303 may not miss reading thedata in the electronic tag attached to the item carried by the userentering the electromagnetic shielding space.

The settlement apparatus according to the embodiment may further includea position prompting device 308 (FIG. 8) configured to send out aprompt. The controller 304 may be configured to control the positionprompting device 308 to send out the prompt when the controller 304determines according to the monitor 306 that the user is located at thefirst specified position in the electromagnetic shielding space, forprompting the user that he/she is located at the first specifiedposition. As shown in FIG. 8, which is a schematic top-view diagram of asettlement apparatus according to an embodiment, the position promptingdevice 308 may be a luminous light strip. When the user is located atthe first specified position, the luminous light strip may emit lightunder the control of the controller 304 to prompt that the user islocated at the first specified position. The first specified positionmay be set according to the second specified position of the reader 303to improve the efficiency of data acquisition by the reader 303 locatedat the second specified position.

In addition, in order to prevent the reader 303 from misreading the datawhen the shielding door 301 is opened, the controller 304 may controlthe shielding door 301 to be closed when the controller 304 determinesaccording to the monitor 306 that there is a user in the electromagneticshielding space, and the controller 304 may control the shielding door301 to be opened until the controller 304 completes the settlement.

Alternatively, when the controller 304 controls the shielding door 301to be opened, the reader 303 is stopped from acquiring data. Thecontroller 304 controls the reader 303 to acquire data only when thecontroller 304 determines that the shielding door 301 is closed. Aspecific implementation manner is not limited here, as long as thereader 303 may acquire data in the electronic tag in the electromagneticshielding space at the time of data acquisition.

FIG. 9 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a settlementapparatus according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the settlementapparatus includes an entrance shielding door 301 a, an exit shieldingdoor 301 b, a shielding wall 302, a reader 303, a controller 304, acollecting device 305, a first sensor 3061, a second sensor 3062, athird sensor 3063, a fourth sensor 3064, an information display device307, and a position prompting device 308. Each of these elements isdescribed above in connection with FIGS. 1-8.

FIG. 10 is a settlement process 100 according to an embodiment. Thesettlement process 100 may be implemented in a settlement apparatus, forexample, the settlement apparatus as shown in FIG. 1. The settlementapparatus may include a shielding door, one or more shielding walls, anda reader.

As shown in FIG. 10, the settlement process 100 may include thefollowing steps.

In step S102, the shielding door is opened.

In order to solve the problem in the existing technologies that it isdifficult to rapidly acquire data in a large number of electronic tagswhile avoiding misreading of the data in the electronic tags, in theembodiments, a position of a user carrying an item is monitored, and theshielding door of the settlement apparatus is opened when the user isdetermined to be outside the shielding door, and the shielding door isclosed when the user is determined to pass through the shielding door,so that the shielding door encloses an electromagnetic shielding spacewith the shielding walls of the settlement apparatus, and the reader inthe electromagnetic shielding space can only acquire data in theelectronic tag attached to the item carried by the user in theelectromagnetic shielding space. As a result, even if the transmittingpower of the reader is increased to enable the reader to acquire data inelectronic tags in a larger range, the electromagnetic shielding spacemay also avoid the reader from acquiring data in electronic tags outsidethe electromagnetic shielding space, thus improving the efficiency ofsettlement.

For example, the settlement apparatus may include a shielding door andone or more shielding walls. The electromagnetic shielding space may bea closed space including an entrance shielding door and an exitshielding door. That is, when the entrance and exit shielding doors areclosed, the space enclosed by the entrance and exit shielding doors andthe shielding walls is an electromagnetic shielding space. The user mayenter the electromagnetic shielding space through the entrance shieldingdoor, and exit the electromagnetic shielding space through the exitshielding door. The shielding door may be manually opened and closed bythe user or opened and closed by the controller, which is not limited inthe present application.

The settlement apparatus may further include a collector configured tocollect a biometric feature of a user outside the entrance shieldingdoor and send the collected biometric feature to a server forauthentication. When the server determines, according to correspondencesbetween stored account identifiers and biometric features, an accountidentifier corresponding to the biometric feature collected by thesettlement apparatus, the server may return the determined accountidentifier to the controller, and the controller may control theentrance shielding door to be opened, allowing the user to pass through.When the controller has not received the account identifier returned bythe server, the controller may determine that user authentication fails,and the entrance shielding door may not be opened.

Further, the settlement apparatus may further include a monitor, and adistance between the user outside the shielding door and the shieldingdoor may be acquired by the monitor and sent to the controller. Thecontroller may control the shielding door to be opened when determiningthat the distance from the user outside the shielding door to theshielding door is within a specified distance, for guiding the user toenter the electromagnetic shielding space through the shielding door,control the shielding door to be closed when determining that the useris in the electromagnetic shielding space, and perform subsequentoperations.

Furthermore, the controller may control the shielding door to be openedwhen determining that the distance from the user outside the shieldingdoor to the shielding door is within a specified distance, for guidingthe user to enter the electromagnetic shielding space through theshielding door. After the user enters the electromagnetic shieldingspace, a biometric feature of the user may be collected by a collectoron the shielding wall, and a corresponding account identifier may bedetermined for settlement.

The server may be a third-party server. The controller may send thecollected biometric feature to the server, and the third-party servermay determine an account identifier corresponding to the collectedbiometric feature according to correspondences between registeredaccount identifiers and biometric features, and return the accountidentifier to the controller. The server may also be a server of amerchant (that is, the server and the settlement apparatus may beregarded as a party opposite to the user). In some embodiments, theserver may be a server specifically designed to provide authenticationfor the settlement apparatus. The server may store account identifiersprovided by users when entering a shop and biometric features of theusers collected when the users enter the shop. The server may determine,according to the account identifiers of the users entering the shop andthe biometric features of the users entering the shop that are stored,an account identifier corresponding to the biometric feature sent by thecontroller.

In S104, the shielding door is closed when it is determined that theuser passes through the shielding door, so that the shielding doorencloses an electromagnetic shielding space with the shielding walls forisolating signals inside and outside the electromagnetic shieldingspace.

In the embodiment, when the controller determines that the user is inthe electromagnetic shielding space, the controller may control theshielding door to be closed so that the user is located in theelectromagnetic shielding space and the reader in the electromagneticshielding space can only collect data in an electronic tag attached toan item carried by the user. As a result, the reader would not misreaddata even if the transmitting power of the reader is high. At the sametime, increasing the transmitting power of the reader may also avoid thedisadvantage that the user needs to adjust the distance between theelectronic tag and the reader, thus improving the efficiency of dataacquisition and the efficiency of settlement.

For example, when the entrance shielding door is opened, the controllermay guide the user to enter the electromagnetic shielding space. Afterthe controller determines that the user passes through the entranceshielding door, the controller may control the entrance shielding doorto be closed.

The controller may guide the user to enter the electromagnetic shieldingspace by playing back an audio for the user or by displaying imageinformation. For example, when it is determined that the user is withina specified distance, the controller may send an audio of “please enterthe door” to the user to guide the user to enter the electromagneticshielding space. The specific manner of guiding the user is not limitedhere. As the exit shielding door is a door through which the user exitsthe electromagnetic shielding space, the exit shielding door may beclosed by default when the user enters the electromagnetic shieldingspace.

In S106, data in an electronic tag attached to the item in theelectromagnetic shielding space is acquired by the reader, andsettlement is performed according to the data.

In the embodiment, after the controller controls the entrance shieldingspace to be closed to form the electromagnetic shielding space, the datain the electronic tag attached to the item carried by the user in theelectromagnetic shielding space may be acquired by the reader on theshielding wall in the electromagnetic shielding space, and settlementmay be performed according to the acquired data (for example, a paymentservice is initiated to a customer according to the acquired data).

For example, when the controller determines that the user is in theelectromagnetic shielding space, the controller controls the reader totransmit a signal and acquire data in the electronic tags carried by theuser. In order to reduce the occurrence of the reader missing readingdata, the transmitting power of the reader may be set higher, so thatwhen electronic tags carried by the user are mutually occluded, theoccluded electronic tags may also receive the signal sent by the readerand return the data included. The transmitting power of the reader maycorrespond to the size of the electromagnetic shielding space, that is,the larger the electromagnetic shielding space is, the higher thetransmitting power of the reader is. The missing reading data may occurwhen the reader does not acquire data in all the electronic tags in theelectromagnetic shielding space.

Further, in order to reduce the occurrence of missing reading data,there may be a plurality of readers in the electromagnetic shieldingspace that may transmit signals from different directions, so that evenif an electronic tag heavily occluded in one direction cannot receive asignal sent by a reader in this direction, the electronic tag may alsoreceive signals transmitted by other readers in other directions.

Furthermore, in order to avoid the problem that a fixed reader has ablind spot of signal transmission and is easy to be occluded to missreading data, in an embodiment, the reader may move on a preset track tocollect data in the electronic tag attached to the item carried by theuser in the electromagnetic shielding space and send the data to thecontroller. The track may encircle the electromagnetic shielding spaceto allow the signal transmitted by the reader to be transmitted atdifferent angles.

In addition, when the controller determines that data of variouselectronic tags in the electromagnetic shielding space have all beenacquired, the controller may further control the exit shielding door tobe opened, and guide the user to exit the electromagnetic shieldingspace with a method similar to that in step S104. Moreover, after thecontroller determines according to the monitor that the user exits theelectromagnetic shielding space, the controller may control the exitshielding door to be closed, and step S102 to step S106 are repeated tocollect data in electronic tags carried by other users. The controllermay determine whether data acquisition is completed according to whethera time length of data collection performed by the reader reaches apreset time length.

Based on the settlement process shown in FIG. 10 and the settlementapparatus shown in FIG. 1, at first, the shielding door is opened, then,the shielding door is closed when it is determined that the user passesthrough the shielding door, so that the shielding door encloses anelectromagnetic shielding space with the shielding walls for isolatingsignals inside and outside the electromagnetic shielding space. Finally,data in the electronic tag attached to the item in the electromagneticshielding space is acquired by the reader, and settlement is performedaccording to the data. With the method provided in the embodiments, asthe reader is located in the electromagnetic shielding space whenacquiring data, the disadvantage of data misreading caused by theincrease of the transmitting power of the reader and the disadvantage ofhaving to manually adjust the distance between the electronic tag andthe reader may be avoided, thus improving the efficiency of settlement.

In addition, in step S102, the controller may determine the position ofthe user according to an image collected by the monitor. The monitor maybe a camera (for example, a high-speed camera). Accordingly, thecontroller may determine a user closest to the entrance shielding dooraccording to the image collected by the camera and monitor the positionof the user. Moreover, when determining that a distance from the user tothe entrance shielding door is within a specified distance, thecontroller may further collect a biometric feature of the user by thecamera and send it to the server for authentication. After determiningaccording to the data returned by the server that the authenticationsucceeds, the controller may control the entrance shielding door to beopened and guide the user to enter the electromagnetic shielding space.

Further, the monitor may further include an ultrasonic sensor configuredto determine distances between the user and the entrance shielding doorand between the user and the exit shielding door and send the distancesto the controller, so that the controller may determine whether to openor close the entrance shielding door or the exit shielding dooraccording to the distances between the user and the entrance shieldingdoor and between the user and the exit shielding door.

For example, the ultrasonic sensor may be located outside the entranceshielding door, and may determine by ultrasonic waves whether there is auser within a specified distance from the entrance shielding door. Whenit is determined that there is a user outside the entrance shieldingdoor, the server may perform authentication according to a biometricfeature of the user collected by the camera. In addition, the ultrasonicsensor may also be located outside the exit shielding door, and maydetermine by ultrasonic waves whether there is a user exiting theelectromagnetic shielding space through the exit shielding door. Inother words, there may be a plurality of ultrasonic sensors in thepresent embodiment, which is not limited here.

Furthermore, there may also be a plurality of cameras that may belocated at different positions outside the entrance shielding door. Thecamera may include a high-speed camera and at least one dome camera.Then, the controller may receive a face image of the user shot by thecamera and send the face image to the server for biometric featurerecognition, thus authenticating the user approaching the entranceshielding door.

It should be noted that the monitor may include at least one of anultrasonic sensor, an infrared emission sensor, a high-speed camera, anda dome camera, configured to enable the controller to determine theposition of the user. In addition, the entrance shielding door and theexit shielding door may be in a closed state by default, which is notspecifically limited in the present application.

In addition, as the reader is located in the electromagnetic shieldingspace, strength of signals transmitted by the reader varies from placeto place in the electromagnetic shielding space. Therefore, in order toreduce the situation that the reader misses reading data, the controllermay collect data by the reader after determining that the user is at afirst specified position. It may be considered that the reader is lesslikely to miss reading data when the user carrying the electronic tag isat the first specified position.

For example, the user may be prompted to move to the first specifiedposition according to an identifier on the ground. For example, promptinformation “please move to here” may be posted in the electromagneticshielding space.

In some embodiments, the controller may determine the position of theuser in the electromagnetic shielding space by the camera or theultrasonic sensor, determine a distance between the user and the firstspecified position, and send prompt information to the user according tothe distance. For example, it is assumed that a user A is located in anelectromagnetic shielding space B, a first specified position is C, anentrance shielding door is D, and an exit shielding door is E. The userA enters the electromagnetic shielding space B through the entranceshielding door D, and is at a distance of d from the first specifiedposition C. The server may project prompt information “move one stepforward to the front right” on the wall by a projector to prompt theuser to move to the first specified position C. In some embodiments, anoperation key is provided in the electromagnetic shielding space, andwhen it is detected that the user is operating the operation key, theuser is determined to be located at the first specified position. Forexample, an operable key F is provided in the electromagnetic shieldingspace C, and the key F is at the first specified position. When it isdetected that the user is pressing the key F, the user is determined tobe located at the first specified position C.

It should be noted that the steps of the method provided in theembodiments may all be executed by the same device, or the method may beexecuted by different devices. For example, step S102 and step S104 maybe executed by a device 1, and step S106 may be executed by a device 2.For another example, step S102 may be executed by the device 1, and stepS104 and step S106 may be executed by the device 2; and so on. Specificembodiments of this specification are described in the foregoing. Otherembodiments fall within the scope of the appended claims. In somecircumstances, the actions or steps described in the claims may beperformed in a sequence different from that in the embodiments and stillcan achieve a desired result. In addition, the processes depicted in theaccompanying drawings do not necessarily require the shown specificsequence or consecutive sequence to achieve the desired result.Multitask processing and parallel processing are also possible or may beadvantageous in some implementation manners.

Each of the above described methods and devices may be implemented assoftware, or hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. Forexample, a Programmable Logic Device (PLD) (for example, a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA)) is an integrated circuit, and logicfunctions thereof are determined by a user programming device. Designersprogram by themselves to integrate a digital system into a PLD, withouthaving a chip manufacturer to design and manufacture a dedicatedintegrated circuit chip. Moreover, at present, the programming is mostlyimplemented by using logic compiler software, instead of manuallymanufacturing an integrated circuit chip. The software is similar to asoftware complier for developing and writing a program, and originalcodes before compiling also need to be written in a specific programminglanguage, which is referred to as a Hardware Description Language (HDL).There are not just one, but many types of HDLs, such as Advanced BooleanExpression Language (ABEL), Altera Hardware Description Language (AHDL),Confluence, Cornell University Programming Language (CUPL), HDCal, JavaHardware Description Language (JHDL), Lava, Lola, MyHDL, PALASM, andRuby Hardware Description Language (RHDL), among which Very-High-SpeedIntegrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) and Verilog aremost commonly used now. Those skilled in the art will know that ahardware circuit for implementing the logic method procedure may beeasily obtained only by slightly logically programming the methodprocedure using the above several hardware description languages andprogramming the method procedure into an integrated circuit.

A controller may be implemented in any suitable manner in the abovedescribed devices. For example, the controller may be in the form of amicroprocessor or a processor and a computer-readable medium storingcomputer-readable program codes (for example, software or firmware)executable by the (micro)processor, a logic gate, a switch, anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a programmable logiccontroller, and an embedded micro-controller. Examples of the controllerinclude, but are not limited to, the following micro-controllers: ARC625D, Atmel AT91SAM, Microchip PIC18F26K20 and Silicone Labs C8051F320.A memory controller may also be implemented as a part of control logicof a memory. Those skilled in the art also know that, in addition toimplementing the controller by using pure computer-readable programcodes, the method steps may be logically programmed to enable thecontroller to implement the same function in the form of a logic gate, aswitch, an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), aprogrammable logic controller and an embedded microcontroller.Therefore, such a controller may be considered as a hardware component,and apparatuses included therein and configured to implement variousfunctions may also be considered as structures inside the hardwarecomponent. Alternatively, further, the apparatuses configured toimplement various functions may be considered as both software modulesfor implementing the method and structures inside the hardwarecomponent.

The device, apparatus, module or unit illustrated in the foregoingembodiments can be implemented by a computer chip or an entity, orimplemented by a product having a specific function. A typicalimplementation device is a computer. For example, the computer may be apersonal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular phone, a camera phone,a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, anavigation device, an email device, a game console, a tablet computer, awearable device, or a combination of any of these devices.

For ease of description, the apparatus is divided into various modulesbased on functions, and the modules are described separately. In anembodiment, functions of the various modules can also be implemented inone or more pieces of software and/or hardware.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of thespecification may be provided as a method, a device, or a computerprogram product. Therefore, the embodiments may be implemented in a formof a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or anembodiment combining software and hardware.

Some embodiment are described with reference to flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams of the method, device (system) and computer program product. Itshould be understood that a computer program instruction may be used toimplement each process and/or block in the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams and combinations of processes and/or blocks in the flowchartsand/or block diagrams. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, anembedded processor, or a processor of another programmable dataprocessing device to generate a machine, so that the instructionsexecuted by the computer or the processor of another programmable dataprocessing device generate an apparatus configured to implement aspecified function in one or more processes in the flowcharts and/or inone or more blocks in the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that may guide a computer or anotherprogrammable data processing device to work in a particular manner, suchthat the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory generate anarticle of manufacture that includes an instruction apparatus. Theinstruction apparatus implements a function specified in one or moreprocesses in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the blockdiagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computeror another programmable data processing device, such that a series ofoperation steps are performed on the computer or another programmabledevice, thus generating computer-implemented processing. Therefore, theinstructions executed on the computer or another programmable deviceprovides steps for implementing a function specified in one or moreprocesses in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the blockdiagrams.

In a typical configuration, the computing device includes one or morecentral processing units (CPUs), an input/output interface, a networkinterface, and a memory.

The memory may include computer-readable media such as a volatilememory, a Random Access Memory (RAM), and/or non-volatile memory, forexample, a Read-Only Memory (ROM) or a flash RAM. The memory is anexample of a computer-readable medium.

The computer-readable storage medium may include permanent andnon-permanent media as well as movable and non-movable media, and mayimplement information storage by means of any method or technology. Theinformation may be a computer-readable instruction, a data structure,and a module of a program or other data. Examples of thecomputer-readable storage medium include, but is not limited to, a phasechange memory (PRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), other types of RAMs, a ROM, an electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory or othermemory technologies, a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digitalversatile disc (DVD) or other optical storages, a cassette tape, amagnetic tape/magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other non-transmission medium, and may be used to storeinformation accessible to the computing device. According to thedefinition in this specification, the computer-readable medium does notinclude transitory media, such as a modulated data signal and a carrier.

It should be further noted that the terms “include,” “comprise” or anyother variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion,so that a process, method, article, or device including a series ofelements not only includes the elements, but also includes otherelements not clearly listed, or further includes elements inherent tothe process, method, article, or device. In the absence of morelimitations, an element defined by “including a/an . . . ” does notexclude that the process, method, article, or device including theelement further has other identical elements.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the embodiments of thepresent application can be provided as a method, a system, or a computerprogram product. Therefore, the present application may be implementedin a form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete softwareembodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover,the present application may be in the form of one or more computerusable storage media including computer-executable program codes(including, but not limited to, a magnetic disk memory, a CD-ROM, anoptical memory and the like).

The above described methods may be implemented by instructions executedby a computer, for example, a program module. Generally, the programmodule includes a routine, a program, an object, an assembly, a datastructure, and the like for executing a specific task or implementing aspecific abstract data type. The above described methods may also beimplemented in distributed computing environments. In the distributedcomputing environments, a task is executed by remote processing devicesconnected through a communications network. In the distributed computingenvironments, the program module may be located in local and remotecomputer storage media including a storage device.

Although the specification has been described in conjunction withspecific embodiments, many alternatives, modifications and variationswill be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the followingclaims embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations thatfall within the terms of the claims.

1. A settlement apparatus, comprising: one or more shielding walls; ashielding door configured to, when closed, enclose an electromagneticshielding space with the shielding walls for isolating signals insideand outside the electromagnetic shielding space; a reader configured toacquire data in an electronic tag in the electromagnetic shieldingspace; and a controller configured to control opening or closing of theshielding door, control the reader to acquire data, and perform asettlement according to the data.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe shielding door comprises an entrance shielding door and an exitshielding door.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shielding dooris any of a rolling shutter door, a sliding door, a side hung door, anda folding door.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising: acollecting device configured to collect a biometric feature of a useroutside the entrance shielding door, wherein the controller isconfigured to send the collected biometric feature to a server, receivean account identifier that is returned by the server according to thebiometric feature and corresponds to the biometric feature, and performthe settlement according to the account identifier.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein the controller is configured to control the exitshielding door to be opened after the settlement according to the data.6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured tocontrol the entrance shielding door to be opened when receiving theaccount identifier that is returned by the server according to thebiometric feature and corresponds to the biometric feature.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 4, wherein the collecting device comprises at leastone camera located outside the entrance shielding door for collecting aface image of the user outside the entrance shielding door as thebiometric feature of the user.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein thecamera comprises a high-speed camera and at least one dome camera, thehigh-speed camera is located on an outer side of a shielding wall wherethe entrance shielding door is located, and the at least one dome camerais located on an outer side of the shielding wall at two sides of theentrance shielding door, or on an inner side of the shielding wall. 9.The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a monitor configured tomonitor a position of a user.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein themonitor comprises a first sensor configured to monitor a distancebetween a user outside the entrance shielding door and the entranceshielding door, and the controller is configured to control the entranceshielding door to be opened when the controller determines according tothe first sensor that the distance between the user and the entranceshielding door is within a specified distance.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the monitor comprises a second sensor configured tomonitor a distance between a user outside the exit shielding door andthe exit shielding door, and the controller is configured to control theexit shielding door to be opened after the settlement according to thedata, and control the exit shielding door to be closed when thecontroller determines according to the second sensor that the distancebetween the user and the exit shielding door is beyond a specifieddistance.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first sensorcomprises at least one ultrasonic sensor located outside the entranceshielding door.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second sensorcomprises at least one ultrasonic sensor.
 14. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the monitor comprises a third sensor configured to monitor theposition of the user in the electromagnetic shielding space, and thecontroller is configured to control, when the controller determinesaccording to the third sensor that the user passes through the shieldingdoor, the shielding door through which the user passes to be closed. 15.The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the third sensor comprises at leastone infrared emission detector located on a shielding wall.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the monitor comprises a fourth sensorconfigured to monitor the position of the user in the electromagneticshielding space; and the controller is configured to control the readerto acquire the data in the electronic tag in the electromagneticshielding space when the controller determines according to the fourthsensor that the user is located at a first specified position in theelectromagnetic shielding space.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, whereinthe fourth sensor comprises an infrared light strip and a lightreceptor, the infrared light strip extends from the ground under theentrance shielding door to the ground under the exit shielding door, andthe light receptor receives infrared rays emitted by the infrared lightstrip.
 18. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an informationdisplay device configured to display the data acquired by the readerand/or information produced after the settlement to a user in theelectromagnetic shielding space.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, whereinthe information display device comprises at least one of a display and aprojector.
 20. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a positionprompting device configured to send out a prompt, wherein the controlleris configured to control the position prompting device to send out theprompt when the controller determines according to the monitor that theuser is located at the first specified position in the electromagneticshielding space, for prompting the user that the user is located at thefirst specified position.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein theposition prompting device includes a luminous light strip.
 22. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the reader comprises a plurality of thereaders located at second specified positions of various shieldingwalls.
 23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic tag is anRFID (radio-frequency identification) tag, and the reader is an RFIDreader.
 24. A settlement method, implemented on a settlement apparatuscomprising a shielding door, one or more shielding walls, and a reader,the method comprising: opening the shielding door; closing the shieldingdoor when it is determined that a user passes through the shieldingdoor, so that the shielding door encloses an electromagnetic shieldingspace with the shielding walls for isolating signals inside and outsidethe electromagnetic shielding space; and acquiring, by the reader, datain an electronic tag in the electromagnetic shielding space, andperforming a settlement according to the data.
 25. The method of claim24, wherein the opening the shielding door comprises: collecting abiometric feature of the user; sending the biometric feature to a serverfor authentication; and determining that the authentication succeedswhen an account identifier that is returned by the server andcorresponds to the biometric feature is received, and opening theshielding door.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the performing thesettlement according to the data comprises: performing the settlementaccording to an account corresponding to the received account identifierreturned by the server and the data acquired by the reader.
 27. Themethod of claim 24, wherein the opening the shielding door comprises:opening the shielding door when it is determined that a distance betweenthe user outside the shielding door and the shielding door is within aspecified distance.
 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the performingthe settlement according to the data comprises: collecting the biometricfeature of the user; sending the biometric feature to the server forauthentication; and performing the settlement according to the receivedaccount identifier that is returned by the server and corresponds to thebiometric feature and the data acquired by the reader.